Chapter 253
Chapter 253
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 254
Chapter Title: Meteor Magic
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Meteor magic, Meteor.
A spell that summons solid chunks of rock from beyond the sky—meteors—to reduce the earth to rubble.
Its destructive power defies imagination.
Not even the most elite archmages, like my mother or the future Aria, would dare attempt it.
Even they would need to chant for ages just to pull it off.
That was how immense its guaranteed devastation was.
But right now, to me...
That wyvern of the mental realm plummeting toward me from atop those high walls felt no less destructive.
Kuuaaaang!
A ferocious explosion as the wyvern's tough hide and momentum cracked the ground. The mental realm's earth shattered mercilessly under the impact.
Tatatat!
Stone shards flew from the crumbling ground. I leaped onto them, kicking off into the air.
Ppeoeoeok!
I landed beside the wyvern's neck. My legs, hard as steel pillars, brutally kicked its exposed throat.
-Kieeeek!
The wyvern's neck twisted grotesquely from the shock, and it let out a scream of agony.
But even in that excruciating pain, its eyes showed no sign of breaking.
Flap!
It spread its wings and soared. Ominous purple flames flickered from its maw.
-Die, human!
Kuwaaaaa!
The dragon clan's signature breath weapon. The scorching blaze rushed at me without mercy, intent on incinerating me.
But if it didn't hit, it was useless.
Puhwaaaak!
The mental realm's ground took the hit in my stead, melting like cheese on a summer day.
Incredible firepower.
I had no wings.
Without flight, enemies perched high in the sky were beyond my reach.
But not now.
Towering walls stretched endlessly around me. Using them, I could reach any height the wyvern flew at.
Tadadadadadak!
I raced up the walls, step after frantic step, closing in on the wyvern's altitude in an instant.
-Kyaoooo!
The breath followed me. But it couldn't keep up with my footwork.
I dodged leisurely and kicked off the wall, landing on the wyvern's back.
Thud!
-Kyaoooo! Get off, human!
The wyvern thrashed wildly, unwilling passenger and all. But my legs clamped around its neck like unyielding vices, unshaken.
Kuuaaaak!
Veins bulging in my legs from the strain, I precisely stabbed, struck, and crushed the spot near its spine.
Ppeoeoeok! Pueoeok!
-Kieeeek!
Pain surging straight up its spine—it could endure no more and screamed.
"Give it up already. You know you're no match for me anymore."
It had been a long time since I'd first defeated a wyvern.
Stronger now than back then, taking it down wasn't much of a challenge.
The real problem started here.
-Heh... don't make me laugh.
Bleeding profusely all over, the wyvern's eyes burned undimmed, unbroken.
If anything, they glared at me with even fiercer malice.
-Humiliated by an orc wasn't enough? You think I'll submit to a mere human and become your tool?!
Hwararararak!
The wyvern's body erupted in flames on its own. Better death than submission—that was its choice.
Just like in countless previous mental realms, this was the wyvern's self-imposed "decision" here too.
Jjeeoeoeong!
The sky of the mental realm, pristine moments ago, cracked like a shattered mirror.
Once things reached this point, the ending was obvious.
No other way out.
'...Failed again.'
Another failure.
Hwaaaaaak!
The fracturing mental realm soon vanished into a deep abyss.
"Keheok!"
Chwaaaaak!
Crimson blood sprayed across the floor like a fountain.
I'd endured this agony countless times, but the shock etched into my soul as the mental realm collapsed never got easier. Pure torment.
Gulp, gulp!
I mechanically chugged Luna's potion. The churning pain inside finally eased a bit.
Thud!
"...Damn it all."
Frustrated, I slammed the floor in irritation. But the weight on my heart didn't lighten one bit.
The wyvern's essence.
Destroying it? Easy enough. But that wouldn't do.
Without subduing its essence properly, I'd never claim the core's true power.
The reason we could absorb monster cores to advance was precisely because we'd conquered the essence born from their spiritual energy.
Skip that, and it was meaningless.
Like an adult with a child's mind in a giant's body.
"...Need a short break."
In this state, I'd just meet the same end no matter how many more tries.
Plop!
I couldn't even recall the last time I'd lain back comfortably like this.
'Damn, there has to be some way...'
There must be a way to overcome that damned wyvern's essence.
But the fatigue built up over time forced my eyes shut, desperate situation be damned.
How much time passed?
"......"
I bolted upright.
'Doze off there.'
Tingrang!
As I shook off the post-nap haze dulling my senses, clattering dishes echoed from outside the training room.
'Already mealtime again?'
I'd eaten and started training right after. Now mealtime again?
Slept longer than I thought.
The soldier bringing food would cause a fuss if he knew I was slacking, so he was probably holding his breath quietly.
"This punk, always on top of things before. Why's he such a slacker now?"
A familiar grumble from outside.
Couldn't remember the last time I'd heard that voice.
"Figures with this brat. Can't handle one lousy lizard whelp and ends up like this. Heard from Karma that he got some good stuff for awakening his heterogenous power. Turns out he's worthless even for that."
Saladin muttered nonstop, oblivious to me listening during my break.
'...This jerk?'
Regardless of my throbbing temple vein, he kept at it while tidying dishes: 'This is why rich young masters are...'
Wait till I get out.
My temper was rising when his final words cut through his endless griping.
"...So hurry up and come out already, you punk. Weather's already warmed up plenty."
"......"
Thud, thud.
Fading footsteps.
The worry in his last words deflated my rising anger in a snap.
Griping aside, Saladin had been fretting over my prolonged inactivity.
Clank!
I grabbed the meal—with a note reading '188'—and shoveled it in.
Skimp on nutrients, and training gains would suffer.
'Right, digest it well. Saladin's got a point. If I got that good stuff for awakening my heterogenous power, then I need to make the most of—?!'
Hold on.
Something just...
A crucial clue.
Before regressing, I'd awakened my heterogenous power through ordinary means.
Not this time. I pickpocketed casino boss Hans and used mandragora for Steel.
Mandragora brimmed with spiritual essence itself. And what I took to Karma? Over 200 years old, rivaling a core in potency.
"...So why didn't Karma stop me from using mandragora?"
Upon regressing, I had a trash body—no training, no heterogenous power.
Sure, some mystery aura lurked inside.
But he wouldn't casually recommend something that potent.
-Your weak ass doesn't deserve onion skin. Hah... fine, take this arrowroot root just in case.
In my past life, Karma awakened it with near-insulting words.
But this time?
-Like someone who's rolled through decades with power. Hmm, the seed even shows signs of 'germination'... yet the shell remains unbroken.
Opposite assessment. The only change? The realms I'd trodden before.
One conclusion.
Karma had judged my body ready for mandragora's potency thanks to the Black Lion's "Myriad Forms."
And indeed, its essence resisted me not at all.
Which meant...
"...I've been going about it all wrong."
It's not about suppressing the wyvern's essence to tear down the wall.
Tear down the wall to forge a vessel for that essence.
Mandragora and wyvern essences may differ like heaven and earth, but their nature was the same.
In other words...
That massive, towering wall encircling me in the mental realm.
Shatter the wall blocking the path to the throne, and I'd finally claim the wyvern's essence as my core's power.
Gulp!
I wolfed down the meal in seconds and closed my eyes again.
Answer found. Time to act.
The world remained barren and vast. Walls still scraped the sky, impossibly thick.
-Human, back again? Don't you get tired?
The wyvern's essence lounged indifferently at the wall's edge.
-Just give up already. I'll never...
"Shut it. I couldn't care less about you now."
-...submit to you... What?
For the first time, a different reaction. The wyvern's essence couldn't hide its confusion.
Whatever.
Smack!
Before the impossibly thick wall, I slowly gathered energy into my fist.
Whiriririririru!
Energy swirled like a ferocious typhoon.
I unleashed it with full power.
"Vortex!"
Kuwaaaaaang!
A massive dust cloud from the blast. But the wall shrugged it off, unscratched.
"I see."
I gathered energy again.
"Not going down easy, huh?"
Kuwaaaaaang!
Endless dust clouds billowed.
And the wall endured every blow steadfastly.
The wyvern's essence watched, dazed, as if entranced.
The bone-chilling winds and brutal cold of a merciless winter passed, yielding to life's harsh adversary.
Warm spring arrived, stretching across all things.
The flower of the headquarters island bloomed brilliantly after surviving the harsh winter.
Kwajik!
But countless heedless human footsteps crushed it mercilessly, beyond recovery.
Not just that flower. Every plant and beast on the island groaned in suffering.
Trees felled and dried into planks; forest animals turned to jerky.
Maybe the crushed flower had it better.
Myriad pirates gathered on the island. With the thaw, they mobilized.
War preparations begun in winter now complete, hordes swarmed the Sea King's Hall.
At the crowd's forefront stood four figures.
Drake, East Commander of the Gadik Pirates.
O'Malley, West Commander of the Iron Maiden Pirates.
Martel, South Commander of the Mermaid Pirates.
Pardal, North Commander of the Buccaneer Pirates.
The Southern Sea's four noble lords of the waves fixed their gaze ahead, where their pinnacle emerged.
Jjangrang!
Earrings clinked softly. Yet that tiny sound rang clear in every pirate's ear before the hall.
A greatsword thicker than a grown man's torso, tall as the ceiling.
Even four burly men would struggle to lift it. He slung it over his shoulder and ascended the dais leisurely.
Beneath sun-scorched skin like black pearl, rippling muscles bulged impossibly.
Reverse scars etched across that frame only amplified its menace.
To the pirates, Balak looked like the War God of the seas incarnate.
"A long wait."
Balak raised the greatsword from his shoulder, slowly aiming north.
"Go wild to your hearts' content."
The pirates' fervor rose steadily.
"Fear nothing. Follow your instincts."
His drowsy yet granite voice swept away the lingering unease Olivia had planted in their hearts.
"I'll be right behind you."
He reared back the lifted greatsword and hurled it with terrifying force.
Hung hung hung hung hung!
Slicing air like a windmill of death, it embedded in the deck of the black ship radiating the darkest aura.
The Bark Pirates' flagship, Nightmare.
The Southern Sea legend, dormant since conquering the archipelago, awakened.
"Go."
Balak's divine feat—hurling that monstrous blade from afar dead-center.
Nightmare's return after ages ignited the pirates' morale to stratospheric heights.
"Waaaaaaah!!"
Roaring, they boarded and marched north.
Pirate King Balak's forces: Four Commanders and 300 pirate crews total. Roughly 40,000 combatants.
Olivia's Northern Expedition begins.